Paper 201 Assignment

Name : Bhavna Sosa 

M.A. sem : 3

Roll no : 02

Paper : Indian English Literature-Pre Independence

bhavnasosa211@gmail.com 

Batch : 2021- 23

Submitted to : S. B. Gardi Department of English MKBU 

Introduction

Rabindranath Tagore's novel The Home and the World (1916) is set in India during the early twentieth century, a time when England still held power over the country. Tagore writes each chapter from the perspective of either Nikhil, Bimala, or Sandip to reflect the political turmoil and lack of unity in India at the time the novel is set.

The Home and the World is set during the height of the Swadeshi movement, a boycott of British goods that was initiated in 1905 as a protest against Great Britain’s arbitrary division of Bengal into two parts. At first, Tagore was one of the leaders of Swadeshi, but when protests evolved into violent conflicts between Muslims and Hindus, Tagore left the movement. In The Home and the World, he explained why he did not approve of what Swadeshi had become.

The Home and the World as a Political Novel

Viewed purely as a social political novel, Tagore's The Home and the World seems to make a sharp distinction between two rival political impulses, Nikhilesh representing the pure passion for constructive work in swadeshi (nationalism), and Sandip its greed and destructive energy .Nikhilesh worships nothing but truth which is greater than the country, and which is alone all temporary crazes; for Sandip the success of the moment, no matter by whatever means it is the only thing that matters. For Nikhilesh, the Ideal is the principal ingredient in the real; for Sandip the Ideal is tolerable only when it is a means to the attainment of the Real. Bimala, the central character of the novel, who has been given a large number of autobiographical narratives than the other two principal characters, is torn between these two contending forces which exercise a powerful fascination over her mind. Nikhilesh’s passion for absolute truth reminds us of the sages of ancient India, and the dominating force in Sandip’s character is greed which is the lane of modern western nationalism. The novel has been regarded as an allegory, Bimala, standing for modern India, Nikhilesh for ancient India and Sandip for modern Europe.

The novel consists of twenty-three chapters, each of them a first-person narrative by one of the three major characters. The first and the last chapters are both labeled “Bimala’s Story,” thus emphasizing the fact that the young wife Bimala is the pivotal character in what is superficially a love triangle but, more profoundly, is a conflict between two points of view, one good, the other evil. The other two narrators are Nikhil, Bimala’s husband, a wealthy landowner with Enlightenment views and a benevolent nature, and Sandip, a charismatic but completely unscrupulous Swadeshi leader.

Nikhil and Sandip have extremely different views for the growth of the nation. Nikhil demonstrates these beliefs in him marrying Bimala, an "unattractive" woman because of her skin color. In the novel, Nikhil talks about disliking an intense patriotic nation, "Use force? But for what? Can force prevail against Truth?" On the other hand, Sandip has contrasting views for the growth of the nation believing in power and force, "My country does not become mine simply because it is the country of my birth. It becomes mine on the day when I am able to win it by force". The contradicting views of Nikhil and Sandip set up the story and construct an interesting dilemma for Bimala. Unfortunately for Nikhil, he has already tried to show Bimala the outside world, and stir some sort of emotion within her since the beginning of the novel, and failed. Sandip possesses great oratory skill, that wins Bimala over simply because of his passion and ferocity, something that her husband may lack.

 Irving Howe, in his discussion of the nature and types of novel, defines a political novel as a work of fiction ‘in which political ideas play a dominant role or in which political milieu is the dominant setting.’ Now, what Howe implies is that a political novel treats some political events of significance in a politically based situation. Naturally, this genre includes political thoughts, confrontations and problems. In fact, materials here are political, situations have a political background, characters, even if imaginary, have political conceptions and ideologies. Of course, it should be admitted here that Tagore’s The Home and the World satisfies all the above mentioned requirements and hence its claims to be a political novel seems to be just and relevant.

 The background of Tagore’s novel is based on the wide canvas of the national uprising of 1905, particularly in Bengal. The partition of Bengal by British rulers in 1905 and its consequent repercussions- the Swadeshi movement and boycott of foreign goods, the indiscriminate burning of foreign goods and clothes, anarchical agitations, political plunders and secret murders- are all included in its purview. Even the oppression of the British rulers and the fanatical activities of the extremists find a brilliant representation in Tagore’s fiction.

From page one of the novel, the love and union between Nikhil and Bimala is illustrated as something sacred. Nikhil proved throughout the story that he was undeniably devoted to his wife. He proved this first by marrying a woman who hailed from a poor family, along with accepting her darker skin. He made great effort to not only educate her, but also for her to understand her place in the world and not just her place in the captivity of their house. He shows his love by giving her freedom. Bimala also adores her husband, but in a less material manner. This is demonstrated in Bimala's daily ritual of "taking the dust", an Indian ritual of reverence not usually performed by a wife to her husband.

Due to Bimala's extreme devotion to Nikhil, in the beginning of the novel, the union between the two of them is seen as one that cannot be broken. However as the story progresses, Bimala is slowly overcome by her feelings for Sandip. She eventually realises that she has found in Sandip what she longed for in Nikhil, fierce ambition and even violent defence of one's ideals. Her deep desire for Sandip led her to completely break her sacred union with Nikhil, going as far as to steal money from her household funds. Sandip shows his love for Bimala through idolisation. This idolisation comes about due to her freedom, though.

It is really to be admitted that the political flame of 1905 steers the story of The Home and the World. The story starts with the quiet, happy conjugality of Nikhil and Bimala. Their home was all peaceful, amorous and congenial. All that Nikhil desired was to bring his wife out of the narrow home to the wide world in order to know her more fully. However it was Sandip’s arrival, his intoxicant political views and his personal enchantment that stirred Bimala’s serene centre- her home – and brought her out of the whirlwind of politics in the wide world outside. She was fascinated by Sandip’s stirring speeches and Swadeshi slogans and also by his romantic adoration of her as Mother India. Again Sandip was crafty enough to bring a stir among the young generation of Nikhil’s area. In other words Sandip and his associates lit up the political fire with noble intention but unfortunately the fire spread in a destructive manner.

Truly, there is nothing to question the Swadeshi background of Tagore’s novel. Yet questions may be raised about the actual political scenario of The Home and the World. The politics of Swadeshi is deeply rooted in the centre of the work and spreads its boughs and twigs all over the story. Still the movement is not dominant in its real flame and fervour. Except Sandip’s catchy, agitative speeches and the reckless burning of foreign clothes at his instigation, The Home and the World presents no scene worth mentioning of the Swadeshi movement. The history of political unrest and the desperate conflict between the English rulers and the poor rulers of India is absent in Tagore’s artistic canvas. Nothing of the country- wide revolt by the young patriots, the fearless acts of terrorism and the glorious selfsacrifice by many dedicated souls has got a space in the novel. Therefore judged from this very angle, it remains impossible to group The Home and the World together with the classic political novels like War and Peace, A Tale of Two Cities and The Mother.

Again on the basis of the stark contrast between Nikhil and Sandip Tagore’s The Home and the World has suffered much criticism from the contemporary Swadeshi leaders. Contextually Bipin Pal commented, “Rabindranath had not understood the essence of Swadeshi itself.” However, a reasonable analysis of the novel establishes a different truth. It is then we confront the fact that, the author is not speaking against Swadeshi. Rather he is speaking for those poor natives who suffered the extreme as a result of the propagation of the movement which dealt with the destruction of their livelihood. The question is not then, how far Nikhil and Sandip are real historical personages. What is important here is that Tagore by the means of his novel originally intended to show the negative aspect of the movement, which had been given birth by sincere patriotic thoughts. The novel therefore remains as it does a specimen of Tagore’s remarkable understanding of the fragility of the destructive temperament, during the Swadeshi era. Herein Nikhil’s comment seems to be the most relevant since he in the course of the novel acts as Tagore’s spokesman- “you should not waste even the tenth part of your energy in the destructive excitement.”

Work Cited:

Datta, Sandip Kumar. Rabindranath Tagore's The Home and the World: A Critical Companion. Anthem Press, 2005 

Tagore, Rabindranath. The Home and the World. Edited by William Radice, Translated by Surendranath Tagore, Penguin Classics, 2005.

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